Markey, Gomez win in primary election for U.S. Senate in Mass.

Wednesday

May 1, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 1, 2013 at 1:16 AM

Tuesday’s primary election for the U.S. Senate was a study in contrasts as Democrats chose a 36-year congressman running on his record and GOP voters backed a political novice promising to be a new breed of Republican.

David Riley

Tuesday’s primary election for the U.S. Senate was a study in contrasts as Democrats chose a 36-year congressman running on his record and GOP voters backed a political novice promising to be a new breed of Republican.

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-5th, had secured about 57 percent of the vote with more than two-third of the state’s precincts reporting, according to Wicked Local’s media partner, WCVB/Channel 5. That was a comfortable margin over his rival for the nomination, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-8th.

Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and private equity investor from Cohasset, trounced his opponents with more than 50 percent of his party’s vote, with a little more than two-thirds of the state’s voting precincts reporting. Following a distant second was Michael Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor, with about 35 percent.

State Rep. Dan Winslow, R-Norfolk, was trailing with 13 percent of the vote.

WCVB called the races a little after 9 p.m.

Markey’s win came as little surprise – several polls in the lead-up to the election pegged him as the frontrunner.

Carrying Kerry’s endorsement and support from other members of the Democratic establishment, Markey also raised $4.8 million, a little more than twice as much as Lynch, in the first three months of the year, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The Republican field was less clear, though a Suffolk Poll a day before the primary showed Gomez in the lead. He also reportedly raised more than both his opponents combined and outspent them by a wide margin.

Turnout was low at many polling places. Secretary of State William Galvin had predicted about 550,000 Democrats would vote in the primary, down significantly from 669,000 in 2009, when Martha Coakley won the party’s nod in the race to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Galvin predicted about 200,000 Republicans would vote in the primary, up from 165,000 in 2009, when the GOP picked Scott Brown as its candidate.

This is the fourth time in five years that Bay State voters have had to make decisions on U.S. Senate candidates. After the primary in 2009, voters went on to elect Brown over Coakley in a 2010 special election. Last year, voters sent Brown packing and elected Elizabeth Warren to a full six-year term.

Compared to those lively contests, the primary race got off to a quiet start this past winter. In debates, Markey and Lynch largely focused on domestic issues and their backgrounds.

Candidates suspended their campaigns after the April 15 bombing at the Boston Marathon killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. The races picked up again a week later with candidates squaring off on security and terrorism.

In statements after the attack, Markey has agreed with the decision to try bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in federal court, while Gomez has called for him to be tried as an enemy combatant.

A special election will be held June 25 for voters to decide if Markey or Gomez will replace Kerry, who held the seat since 1985. Currently filling the position is interim U.S. Sen. William “Mo” Cowan.

(David Riley can be reached at 508-626-4424 or driley@wickedlocal.com.)